CP 226 When the 12, and the rest, got zapped.
CP 226 When the 12, and the rest, got zapped…
Hello good people… I promised you two weeks ago that I’d do
a series of three CrossPurposes on being ‘powered’ by the Holy Spirit. The
first, (CP225) was about Jesus and the Spirit. It was suggested to me recently
that Jesus did not need the power of the Holy Spirit for his ‘Messiah work’
because he had it already by virtue of his incarnation. I simply say, ‘I have
to disagree.’ In Philippians 2:6-8 good old Paul reveals a truth about Jesus
that is stunning and yet gives great hope. Here it is:
6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (RSV)
Check verse 7! He emptied himself… The eternal Son of God
took on flesh, the flesh of Adam with all its limitations. He was among us as
Son of Man, empty of his divine powers and capacities. He joined us in our
weakness, yet without sin. He lived among us able to do the things he did by
virtue of being ‘a man under authority’, as indeed Adam should have been in the
first place. The authority was from his Father. The power came from the eternal
Spirit. He was always utterly dependent on his Father, especially, between the Jordan and Calvary,
in living under, and bearing, his cross.
He commanded, and authorised, the 12 - and the Church – to
take His Gospel to the world… indeed to the ends of the earth. Matthew records:
All authority in heaven and earth
has (now, my addition) been given to me. Go into all the world… Matt 28:18-19
Here is Luke’s account:
He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his
own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.’ Acts 1:7-8
‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,
which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptised
with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’ Acts
1:4-5
Go… but wait!
Yes, there was a great task in his name, but first… the Spirit of and for
powering. We can hardly misunderstand that. For the 12 the Holy Spirit was sine qua non… without which nothing!
These men were not being asked to go to Calvary.
Jesus did that for everybody and it will never need to happen again. But they will be his proclaimers. They will ‘bear his name’. Blessings abundant... but suffering and work that will be humanly impossible. Each will have a
personalised cross with its own tasks. And each one will need that baptism of
the Spirit.More next week about us!
Be blessed in Him
Fred
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 5:31 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Pastor Fred, thanks for the blog.
I've only seen that Philippians verse with the words "...humbled Himself", not "...emptied Himself" as you have written about, so I was surprised to read this version. The meaning is changed, as you can obviously have power and be humble about that fact, without removing all the power. Any thoughts on this?
Fred here... in response to the comment above. The Philippians (from the RSV) quote in the blog has both words... emptied himself v7 and humbled himself v8. The NIV has 'made himself nothing'v7 and humbled v8. The KJV and NKJV both have 'emptied' and humbled...
Obviously for our purposes here, the key word is that word 'emptied'. What does it mean for the way we understand Jesus Christ as the person on earth before the resurrection?
The NLT follows the NIV 'made himself nothing', with an alternative in the footnotes...'laid aside his mighty power and glory'! He did what he did as a fully limited human being, powered by the Holy Spirit, as he lived in trust of, and under the authority of, his heavenly Father
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